# Your favorite tough female cop/detectives **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182 "2009-09-23T02:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/21 "2009-09-23T08:23:05Z")
Kinsey Millhone, for me. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/22 "2009-09-23T09:10:38Z")
Karen Sisco, from _Out of Sight_ (both the film and the novel). ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/23 "2009-09-23T09:46:28Z")
How about Barbara Havers, from Elizabeth George’s Lynley series? I like her because she is determined, passionate and good at her job, and she doesn’t really care about her appearence, and has no sexual interest in her partner… ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/24 "2009-09-23T09:56:56Z")
Lucy Bates, Hill Street Blues ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/25 "2009-09-23T13:24:21Z")
Benson on SVU. The show is basically crap, but I like her and her door-kicking skills. Kay Howard, Homicide. And from The Wire, Kima Greggs, of course! Clarice is for sure my favourite, though, if she counts. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/26 "2009-09-23T13:30:33Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Kinsey Millhone, for me. I never considered literary, so add Eve Dallas to my list. ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/27 "2009-09-23T13:33:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Karrin Murphy of the Dresden Files ( novels ). Agreed! She gets more bad ass as the series goes on. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/28 "2009-09-23T20:19:24Z")
I have to add Marlene Ciampi from the Tanenbaum/Gruber books ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/29 "2009-09-23T20:47:27Z")
Leona Okazki, of the anime _Tank Police_. She’s a cop! In a tank! Her motto: _DEATH TO THE BAD GUYS!_ ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/30 "2009-09-23T20:48:40Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > How about Barbara Havers, from Elizabeth George’s Lynley series? I like her because she is determined, passionate and good at her job, and she doesn’t really care about her appearence, and has no sexual interest in her partner… Yes, Havers! She and Lynley have a very interesting and complex relationship and I hope Elizabeth George is cranking out yet another tome because right now all bets are off. I knew a youngish guy who had the most enormous crush on Kim Delaney’s detective on NYPD Blue. He said he was almost unbearably excited when she marched a wrongdoer by the back of the collar into the squad room or put him into the car. The strange thing is, this Kim Delaney fan was gay! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/31 "2009-09-23T20:52:11Z")
I’d also add Zoe from the first seasons of _MI-5_ (_Spooks_). She was pretty bad-ass. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/32 "2009-09-24T03:45:58Z")
Another vote for V.I. Warshawski. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/33 "2009-09-24T04:38:13Z")
I really like Thursday Next, having recently discovered Jasper Fforde’s series. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/34 "2009-09-24T04:55:24Z")
Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels from J. A. Konrath’s series of mystery novels set in Chicago, and all named for an adult beverage (Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, and Dirty Martini, so far)…TRM ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/35 "2009-09-24T05:08:46Z")
Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the L.A.P.D! (_The Closer_) Though Lt. Van Buren is a close second. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/36 "2009-09-24T05:16:59Z")
N’th’ing Kinsey Millhone, VI Warshawski, Faith Yokas and Stephanie Plum and adding Magdalena Yoder, of the Pennsylvania Dutch mysteries by Tamar Myers. She’s not a detective, but she solves all the crime in ridiculously crime-ridden Hernia, PA because of the inept local constabulary. She’s cheated death umpty-ump times, and has done so in sensible shoes, a modest length skirt and without ever losing her Mennonite demeanor. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/37 "2009-09-24T08:17:28Z")
Maybe she’s not as “tough” as the others mentioned, but… [Beadie Russell](http://www.popmatters.com/images/features_art/j/jonessophie-thewirefeature-beadie.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/38 "2009-09-24T10:16:48Z")
I dislike all things **CSI** , but back when she played a Secret Service agent on **The West Wing** , Jorja Fox got my vote! Emma Peel. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/39 "2009-09-24T19:39:40Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > I third Faith Yokas from NYPD Blue. She was my favorite. whoops, Faith Yokas was from Third Watch. I was getting my cop shows I loved long after everyone else had pretty much forgotten them mixed up. I liked Diane from NYPD Blue, but I don’t think she was all that especially tough. I like Juliet O’Hara from Psych, too. ---
**Author:** ![meanoldman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@meanoldman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meanoldman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182/40 "2009-10-14T23:54:42Z")
Weird. I was thinking about starting a thread specifically about Emma Peel. I did a search and found 2 recent threads that pertain and mention her. A two-fer. The Diana Rigg version of Emma Peel was fantastic. Sexy, smart, cool, capable of beating you to a pulp or just plain shooting you. Liked men, but didn’t depend upon them. I was just a lad of maybe 10 or so when she started showing up on the telly, but I knew I wanted to see more of her and more women like her. rowr. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-tough-female-cop-detectives/511182.md?page=3)